This is a topic open to some controversy, buy in my honest opinion you DO NEED a solid yo yo to properly begin your yo yo-ing journey.
Now keep in mind, I am not saying you need a 500 dollar titanium yoyo, or a pricey metal, BUT If you want to properly develop your skills, that 5 dollar yo-tech or Duncan Imperial is going to make your learning experience REALLY difficult.
Personally, I started with a yomega brain although it was great for “walk the dog” and “around the world” type classics everybody is familiar with; the combination of my undeveloped accuracy and unfriendly beginner imperial shape it became almost impossible to land the simple trapeze.
Ready to give up I decided to buy myself a Yoyo jam legacy, $22. A lot more expensive than my 5 dollar yomega brain, but without it I am confident I would have never reached the level of skill I am at today. So do you need an expensive yoyo ? In my opinion yes.
Do you agree ? Do you disagree ? What is your cheapest yo yo, how long was it until you upgraded ?
$20 isn’t expensive lmao. I don’t agree with you that you need an expensive YoYo, what you need is a YoYo that is able to do what you need it to. For example, if you want learn how to loop, you’ll use a looping YoYo, no matter how expensive a YoYo is, unless it’s designed for looping, chances are you won’t be doing many shoot the moons with it. Works the same for different skill levels. Give a beginner a Peak, they won’t be able to use it, but give them a Duncan Butterfly, they’ll at least be able to do something with it.
You do not need expensive yoyos. Some might disagree with me, but many will not take full advantage of the specs of a new (non beater) expensive yoyo because they have afraid to damage it.
Yes, you do need a solid throw, and like yoyospirit wrote, should be adequate to the style you want.
The cheapest yoyo? Hum… I still use a Firedog V2 for looping because it is really chalenging! After using it for a while, it’s so easy on any looping yoyo with a ball bearing. However, the cheapest yoyo I bought was Phat-Yo Blue Angel for about $2.5.
in my eyes no because a “solid yoyo” or in other words unresponsive in many cases can lead to 2 things
being determined to keep on yoyoing because you want to get better
you rage quit because you cant bring the yoyo back up
so when you want the good yoyo to learn on i say start with the yoyo that isnt solid because then it aspires you to be a better yoyoer that is what happens in my case of yoyoing at least.
when i first got into yoyoing in had a duncan Proyo that i used until i knew almost every possible looping trick i could do with one hand. So then i begged my mom for months to get a better yo yo so went to a hobby shop one day and bought a yomega maverick that is now missing or somewhere in MD. Now as i did progress in many eyes i got some yoyos i needed to learn on. the yoyo i got after the maverick was a Stackless PGM because i needed some more advanced to learn on and that is what i could afford. that yoyo lasted about close to 8 months by the end of that year i bought a better yoyo that was my legacy 2 that lasted 6 months which is when my birthday came around so i asked my parents for a C3yoyodesign Di base because i wanted to work on grinds and the plastic yoyo i was using wasn’t easy to learn on. Then after that i basically went crazy with yoyos now trying to find the mythical “perfect yoyo” because i am not experimenting with yoyo shapes and weights to see what i like.
and for those of you that don’t want to read that giant blob up there lemme paraphrase it for you
i start out with a
duncan proyo
then i need something better so i get a
yomega maverick
but then the maverick limits the tricks i can do so i get a
Stackless PGM
then have trouble learning on it because of the sleep time so i buy a
YYJ legacy 2
but then i learn i want to learn grinds so i figure i need a metal yoyo for it to be easier so i buy a
C3 yoyo Design Di Base
and now after i have became a fairly good yoyoer i go crazy with yoyos because i am now experimenting with differnt yoyos to see what i like in a yoyo or not.
I actually kinda agree. Like if you don’t have a trick down you reply on the spin time to help you get out of that mount. And we all know under $20, you wont get good spin… Maybe $40 is good, especially on the bst.
I guess everyone is going to have a different definition of ‘expensive’. When I first started, I saw anything over the $50 mark as being insanely expensive. I mean, it’s just two pieces of metal and a bearing. How much better could the $200 one possibly be? So I bought myself a DV888 (which I think cost me $50-ish with shipping) with the honest belief that I’d never need to buy anything more expensive. Boy was I wrong!
I have a rather addictive personality and when I get into a hobby, I get way into it and basically acquire every bit of equipment and paraphernalia I can afford. At one point, this meant ordering $100+ yoyos without blinking. Did it make me a better yoyoer? Well, yes and no. Some of the throws just really clicked with me and just worked with my style. Others were still great throws (as they ought to be once you get into high end metals) that I had no real affinity with. To this day, I’m not fond of the CLYW Chief but can not find fault with it. Either way though, just having that new throw kept me excited about throwing and that helped me put in the hours to learn new stuff when my finger felt like it was about to fall off.
Used to be the case that metals were played at home over carpet while the plastics were in my collection just to give me something ding proof to carry out and about. These days, I’m just as happy to play both at home and, with the exception of the ultra premium Jap throws, I’m just as happy to carry metal out.
In a nutshell: no, you don’t absolutely need expensive yoyos to become a better player, you just need a good yoyo. Some people, like myself, just need the more expensive things to give us the motivation to become better players and that, I think, has just as much value in it.
And on a side note, where on earth did you find a Yomega Brain for $5, Brandon?
I don’t think you need am expensive yoyo. My first yoyo was a THP Raider I bought on a whim when I was 12 or so. But the cheapest I bought was the Dollar Tree throw everyone went nuts for for awhile. If kids are learning on their Imperials or Brains and they reach a plateau they don’t need to go out and buy a $100 throw just because.
I agree with some of you above in saying to buy a yoyo that suits your wants and needs regardless if it costs $12 or $120. Do some research and find a yoyo that best suits that or if you don’t know what to get then all the awesome people here on the forums can help guide a newbie into buying a yoyo that will help them progress and learn and become a YoYo Expert!!
You do not need expensive yoyos. However, many people enjoy them because the more expensive ones happen to be more solid, the weight can be changed by the manufacturer more, and the material is higher-quality and better machined. There ARE yoyos that are cheaper but still very good, such as the onedrop rally, the CLYW yeti, yyf shutter, yyf dv888.
He’s saying something in that range would be better than a sub-$10 throw
I’m thinking this video is more geared towards beginners/intermediates, because as a beginner something in the $30 range seems pretty expensive for a yoyo…
So in that aspect I’ll have to agree. A protostar can take you all the way. a ONE? ehhh, idk… similar to what he said you can do everything you can on a cheap ONE that you can on a protostar, but it’s going to be harder. The lack of stability, smaller width, lightweight.
Well you do not NEED an expensive yoyo, and as I said in an older thread, people have different opinion to what is expensive. It is a matter of opinion weather a $40 yoyo is expensive or not, but that is not the topic.
I think it is proper to spend at least $30 on a yoyo to properly learn all the mounts and basic whip tricks. Some may disagree, saying that it is not needed. However, I’m just stating that it would be the best way to engage in a proper manner of progressiveness. If you purchase a high-end throw your process of becoming better will undoubtedly become easier and a much more fun experience to learn. I started with a YYF Grindmachine. I payed $25 for it, and it was ok for learning how to bind and do a proper front throw, maybe learning how to get in a split-bottom mount. However, as I started to progress, the yoyo was not very stable and I seemed to get frustrated because the yoyo did not have the spin time necessary for me to properly learn it. After a couple of months I got a Dv888 and everything became easier. I was getting the spin time necessary to get mounts like double or nothing and had time to do tricks like gondola and mach-five properly.
So to answer your question: Yes, I think you do need a solid yoyo to begin your journey.
Have you ever tried a MYY T5? That things solid as a brick and can compete with a DV888 any day.
The real problem I see here isn’t lack of a good yoyo, it’s lack of patience and skill.
I can assure you, the OP is most definitely not lacking in skill. He’s the current two time Sydney Yoyo Contest champion (which has effectively been Aus Nats the last two years because we haven’t had an actual Aus Nats).
I do agree that in general though, a lot of newer players will splurge on expensive throws thinking that they are a substitute for practice and skill, rather than a supplement to them.
I think people get stuck on the word “expensive.” For some people $30 is expensive, for others $120 is expensive. I think what the original poster was trying to say is you need to get a solid yoyo. I would say get the best yoyo you can afford to buy.
I’m not a great yoyoer. I’ve been doing it less than a year, but if I had stuck with cheap throws I think I would have given up at some point. A good solid throw makes learning tricks easier. You might not have the best form, but I think for a beginner it’s more important to actually land some tricks and get excited about the hobby.
I think for a lot of people yoyoing is not about being perfect. Many people aren’t going to be in a competition. They are not going to be judged on their form or flow. For a majority of people it’s a fun hobby that gives them a creative outlet.
If your yoyo makes you smile, it’s right for you, regardless of cost. Cost is just a matter of preference just like diameter, weight, width, response and bearing.
Some smiles are just more expensive, not better, just more expensive. Smiles are worth the cost. ;D ;D
I first got into yoyoing when I was in the beginning of high school around 2006 I had a fireball. I stopped yoyoing because I couldn’t make the yoyo sleep long enough to do any tricks besides rock the baby and picture tricks. I think if someone had told me or I had found out it wasn’t me that couldn’t advance but a yoyo I had “outgrown”. When I was reintroduced to yoyos recently I found the same problem until a friend bought a freehand zero and I realized not all yoyos are built the same. I bought a ONE shortly after that. After loosing my ONE and replacing it with a ONEstar I have gotten alot of trick down and enjoying myself to the fullest. The feeling eventually crept back the feeling that this yoyo is causing some problems that might go away with a more advanced yoyo. I ordered a shutter that came in on Monday. It feels amazing stable and ready for what im going to throw at it. If you had changed those fireballs when I was younger with a ONE, ONEstar or Shutter I would not have been hooked by this sport/pastime/hobby. I think its less about expensive and more about the yoyo for your skill. I fell the shutter could take me to the great beyond of tricks. Do I know? No. I have to wait for that time to come.